If it was a ship, I would call it the S.S. Awesome

I think a good name for a band would be "Subtle Sabotage," it's fresh, alliteration, and apparently available because I googled it and the only match under ' "subtle sabotage" band ' was a 1982 album from the electronica band M.O.A. out of the U.K. I just wanted to get that out here so someone else doesn't think of it while I am getting some musicians together. I think the tag line on our first album could be something like "Once we go platinum we'll have to change our name to "Not-so-subtle Sabotage." Just a thought.

Familypalooza and T.J.'s Graduation

Instead of uploading a ton of pictures (which I will still probably do, but only to facebook since that is a little easier), I decided to create a family collage. Most of these are from my last trip or two, with a couple thrown in for good measure so no nieces and nephews or anyone feels left out. My heart is big enough for everyone. It is always good to see the family though and I really enjoyed the trip home to see everyone, even though it was only for a couple of days. I am really glad that the girls from Portland and Kim and Byron were able to come up, along with the Utah Crew.

I am full in the swing of finals now, and since I already wrote a forty page outline last week and typed over four thousand words in my first final, I feel like I can take a small break and blog a little.

I really wanted to do a blog shout-out to Tracy. Way to go sister. If I do say so myself, graduating from law school is a big deal. I have often thought how to explain law school to people. It is really like nothing else, and I don't think "it is really hard" does it justice. I think that "it is hard" is a necessary term to describe it, but not sufficient to really let you know about it. Let me tell you a little of what it entails.

The hardest thing about law school, and what I do not think that people understand, is the competition. When you are in college, or better yet, high school, it is readily apparent how kids fall into groups. You do not even need to use the term smarter, they have different abilities. Some are good at sports, some are good at math, and some are good writers and speakers, they will excel at different things. There are also levels in those areas, some kids the information comes a little more readily to, and some are more willing to put in greater effort for a greater reward. Some kids succeed and some do not do as well, but the reasons are apparent. Skip forward to law school. With some variation, you are in a school with kids that got very similar scores in the LSAT, and did comparably to you in undergraduate grades. You are all kids that did better in writing and speaking. All of the sudden, there is very little difference in academic ability and desire. Furthermore, kids in law school (at least at BYU and my own school Hastings, other schools I do not have first hand knowledge, but I have heard) are willing to do what it takes to get good grades and be successful. This means that everyone that is as smart as you already is willing to work as hard as you or harder. So is the material hard to learn? Not necessarily, but being that there is only one test to determine your entire grade for the class, you need to be able to distinguish yourself from your classmates in some way. This means you put in more effort (hopefully), or you hope your brain rewards you for spending 100 hours on a sixty page essay and you make an analysis that another student did not. This is not luck though, you train yourself to look at problems in different ways and to ask questions. Of course, you need to do this under a time limit and with no notes. So it can be difficult. This is what law school is all about.

That is just the tests and grades. You need to throw in the Socratic method, the oral arguments, the writing of briefs (arguments for a case) and research papers. You need to take skill classes like trial advocacy, negotiation, mediation (shout out to Tracy for being an ADR machine), and other things. It can be a little overwhelming, and fun; some people really enjoy this stuff, I do (for the most part, I am not a glutton for punishment).

Finally, you do not just learn about facts and figures. This is the other difficult thing for people that are not in law school to comprehend. You need to learn to re-wire your brain. To actually change the way you think. The first year about law school is less about learning law and more about learning to think like a lawyer. Most master's programs from what I understand (which is limited I will be quick to admit) are expanding on what you already know. More advanced or difficult techniques, etc. There are no pre-requisites for law school. You have to learn something that is not taught quite the same in other places. So yeah, it is hard. I do not want to sound too high and mighty. While I feel I can compete with my classmates more or less at this stage, it took some time to learn the system. Another thing that I learned in law school is that it is a deposit/withdrawal system. You get out what you put in. If you are willing to work a little harder, and go that extra mile, you can succeed. Not so much about smarts as about will, because like I said, everyone here is at least as smart as you are.

The final thing that I want to tell you about is what they call a hard curve. Most of you are familiar with a soft curve, the highest student score is an "A", and sometimes the lowest is an "F", but usually not. Many law school have a hard curve. This means that at least 20% (depending on the school) of the class must get a "C" or lower. No exceptions. This means that in a class where you are competing with kids that are all around the same intelligence, and that are working their bums off, they have to divide them somehow. So if the best score in the class is a 90% and the worst score is an 85%, then those kids that are in that 20% of the class that scored around an 85 get a "C" grade, or lower. You might say, "but that is not fair! That is a "B" score!" You learn rather quickly in law school that life is not fair. There are kids all the time who decide that it is not for them. This is the most depressing post ever. This is how America trains its lawyers. This might also explain why many lawyers are the way they are. Those who love competition thrive in this type of atmosphere. Those who do not must be at least tough enough to hang with those competitors and kids that will do whatever it takes to succeed.

Tracy was tough enough. I am not going to say that it was easy for her, that would belittle what she has accomplished. It was hard, and it tested her and stretched her beyond where she felt she could reach I am sure, but reach it she did, and in a way that we should all be proud of. Especially since she had a baby in the last year. That is just nuts. I tell people here that and they literally cannot comprehend it. Kudos Trace, kudos. I hope you will all join me in congratulating Tracy (and Marc, because a wonderful husband makes it a little easier I am sure, and much more possible with a baby) on a job well done. Good luck on the bar and in your future career, sister, and don't forget about Harrison (Harrison?) and Nuttall. Yes we can!

This turned into a much longer post than I meant it to be, but I blame it on tests I have to write.

Blame it on the Ba - Ba - Ba - Ballet!

Quick note. My friend here in S.F., Melissa, has season tickets to the San Francisco Ballet. I expressed some interest, so she let me come along about two weeks ago. TO ANYONE, I MEAN ANYONE THAT COMES TO VISIT, TRY TO SEE THE BALLET WHILE YOU ARE HERE! I know caps are not usually the way you express your feelings about the ballet, but it was really awesome. I think you can get tickets for about $15 for some shows up in the balcony (which is where I sat and it was not bad). I was just amazed at how great it was live. I literally thought in my head, "hmm, ballet would be a fun way to get in shape, I wonder where I could do that at?" That was how cool it was, how often do you see something (especially something like the ballet), and think, man, I want to do that? Not very often, and probably me more than other people, so I guess that is not a very good point. Anyway, I digress. I had studied a few things about ballet in my humanities classes, but this was way better than I expected. Plus, the building they perform in here in S.F. is just incredible. So think about it, and if you want to look at shows and prices check here. Call, text, or email, you know how to schedule a visit at the chateau de Hacksaw.

I just want to blog about something

I think it is about time I wrote a farewell post to my good friend Steve Park, who moved back to Korea a couple of months ago. I should have written it earlier but I didn't. It might have been because every time I tried my vision got real blurry and then water started falling on my keyboard, or it could have been because I'm lazy. On second thought, it is not my fault. It just isn't.
As a final post to Steve, who was my roommate for a year and a half and who I got to be really good friends with, I thought I should tell you one thing that I think of when I think of Steve. How much that boy could eat. Dang. Before he left we went to In n' Out to get a burger with six patties on it so Steve could try it. They do not sell a burger with six patties, so I fought them, with my words. After losing, I decided to buy one with four patties and one with two patties and combine them. So we did. Behold the behemoth.
This picture does not really do it justice, it was really disgusting. Steve took one look at that sucker and ate it. No problem. Said he was "still hungry." He then proceeded to eat the leftover buns and lettuce from the Franken-burger we had assembled. I told you, the boy can really eat. It was really fun to live with Steve for a while though, and I wish him the best in Korea and eventually Australia. Don't be a stranger buddy.
This is how I will always remember Steve in my heart.

Tainted Love

Quick post to anyone that has ever thought about visiting me. The other night I went to a show with a group of friends to celebrate my friend Emily's birthday. The band that was playing was an 80's cover band named, what else, Tainted Love. Needless to say, it blew my mind. A lot. They played 80's pop. They played 80's rock. They played with my heart. It was a really great show and they were a really cool band. The next bit of news, they play here all the time. So if you are going to come into town, we should go, you will not regret it.



This group also had a couple of guys with some really great style. I think I am going to have to start wearing my vests with jeans. It is cool. I also have been doing a lot of sewing and little bit of cooking, so keep an eye on Fashionably Harrison and taste for taste.

The Rock

The weekend of the formal, my good friend and former roommate Chad (as opposed to my former friends and current roommates) came to visit me. Along with a night of gorgeous girls, glam, and glitz, we also decided to go visit Alcatraz, so we could enjoy the freedom to throw a dance party even more.

The last time I went with Mom and Dad was probably a good 15 or so years ago, so I wanted to see it again. We went on the night trip, which I recommend. As it starts to get dark the prison gets a little creepy and you get a better sense of what it must have been to live there day after day. It also made me realize what freedom is. They did not have the freedom to do anything, I cannot even imagine that, this bird needs to fly free! I think Lynard Skynard knows what I'm talkin' about.

Here are the highlights of that trip, and when I get a chance I will visit my buddy Chad Riding out in Sac Town and tell you all about that.

Here are the intrepid explorers. Chad was pretty excited to see Alcatraz I think.

The Rock, this is where they sent the prisoners who refused to stay in jail. They broke old Scarface himself in this joint. There are still pieces of Al Capone's spirit lying around, take one home as a souvenir.



You may or may not know that a group of Native Americans took over the island for a brief period, vestiges of that occupation remain. For the record, the sign is just for show, they let us dock and walk around and stuff. Even without a pass.


Several escape attempts were made. There is no evidence that any were successful. The Rock keeps what's hers.

The Rock was stylish as well. Being stuck on a tiny island guarding dangerous criminals all day is no excuse to look scruffy. Good style is a way of life. Double breasted coats: required. What has happened to America?


Just another inmate. Doing some hard time.


Sun setting on The Rock. Some of the prisoners said that at this time of night if the wind was right, you could hear people partying in Fisherman's Wharf across the bay. Sounds like these prisoners had a pretty crappy life. I for one would rather be partying in Fisherman's Wharf then stuck out on some rock with a bunch of criminals.



Not hard to imagine that the ghosts of guards killed in a prisoner uprising might still haunt these walls.

Mandatory reenaction of Titanic. No one else did it, but I got a few laughs. Mission accomplished.

Formal Announcement

Just thought I would let everyone know how the party went last weekend. There are many more pictures on facebook, but here are a few that I am in and a couple that show the decorations. We probably had sixty or seventy people, and they had a great time. Mark your calendars for next year!
Here you can see the balloons before the balloon drop and some of the twinkle lights.
My karaoke friend Ruth from Palo Alto. I mostly just did sexy faces for these pictures.
Get the look: all you have to do to get the "sexy and sassy" look that I am sporting here is say "prune" as the picture is snapped. "Maybe he's born with it? Maybe it's prune."

My friend Tini. A girl I hometeach, Sylvia, is a photographer, and she took some pictures of me because she wanted someone with a beard, and Tini was another of the models. Sylvia brought her along and I think she was pleasantly surprised at the festivities. Krissy!
The King and the Queen, I should have known I would win at my own party, but Ciara won legitimately. Next year I am going to take myself out of the running, then it will be a little more competitive.

Peter and I go to school together, and he is driving to Utah with me over Spring Break. He was also nominated for King, and was a good sport in having a dance-off. For all of you that have not seen my splits, better make it to the party next year. Notice the balloon arch and red carpet. My friends really came through and helped me decorate. Thanks everybody.